Transcribing horn players, piano players vs guitar players

[PMB]

Jim's solo in ATTYA is killing!

Love how Jim quotes so seamlessly (If I Should Lose You that opens his 2nd chorus). Always melodic and full of groove.

[christianm77]

Jim is the quote master...

[targuit]

As a guitarist who also plays some piano, I think transcribing from pianists is a great idea. Note I said "from" pianists, because I find that while a guitarist often cannot exactly duplicate certain pianistic devices, our six or more string polyphony suffices to deliver the essence of what the pianist is creating.

Case in point. Early this morning I was playing along with Dianne Schurr whose voice and piano skills are superb. Her arrangements are great for guitarists, imp.

[monk]

When Coltrane would go off on one of his long, adventurous solos with Miles Davis Quintet, I wonder what Miles was thinking about----

In one of the Miles biographies, Davis took Coltrane to task for taking such long solos. Coltrane told Miles that once he got into a solo he didn't know how to stop. Miles said "Just take the horn outta yer f**kin' mouth!".

[fasstrack]

It takes courage and patience to develop a solo melodically, without filigree or recitations, regardless of instrument. I used to play with and listen to Tommy Turrentine. If he didn't have an idea he would stand there and let time pass until he did, rather than babble. I can dig that.

I think guitar players may suffer from a kind of inferiority complex vis a vis playing as musically as horn or piano players. It's true that they have been at the forefront of jazz more than us, but guitar is a bitch---it's a slower instrument to absorb that kind of vocabulary. Some of it doesn't 'lay'. Maybe that's why a lot of guitar players stay hung up in guitar licks.

I think it a mistake and even defeatist to compare any instrument unfavorably to another. Not every horn player or pianist is all that. It's about the inspiration, not the instrument.

I will listen to Jim Mullen now. I met him in London some years ago, and he is a nice man...

[matt.guitarteacher]

I think it a mistake and even defeatist to compare any instrument unfavorably to another. Not every horn player or pianist is all that. It's about the inspiration, not the instrument.

I don't think it's necessarily about comparing unfavorably. It's more about playing to your strengths. Wes Montgomery sounds fantastic soloing after Wynton Kelly and saxophone players etc. , but he's not trying to play like a saxophone player either.

To my ears, Wes played as "guitaristically " as anyone ever.

[fasstrack]

I don't think it's necessarily about comparing unfavorably. It's more about playing to your strengths. Wes Montgomery sounds fantastic soloing after Wynton Kelly and saxophone players etc. , but he's not trying to play like a saxophone player either.

To my ears, Wes played as "guitaristically " as anyone ever.

Yup. What he said. What I said.

Wes played as musically as anyone. If another instrument played what he did it would still be great music...

[Al_F]

Mentions on Turentine, Grant Green, and Kenny Burrell remind of B3 organ all those great soul jazz records, talk about sustain envy , how great to slam a chord for a couple of bars!

[christianm77]

Seriously, using a spot of slow, in time vibrato can really help on ballads. Use a bit of warmth from the amp as well and a soft attack.

Obv. can't do that on acoustic gigs :-)

Anyway, the going back the OP, he mentions pianists and they have similar problems to us regarding sustain.

It's all about time, yo.